Tue 4/23 @ 7:30PM
Wed 4/24 @ 7:30PM
Tri-C JazzFest’s Downbeat Invitational series turns the spotlight on the future of jazz. It showcases younger artists on the cusp of great careers, as well as student ensembles, in three shows taking place on successive nights at the Tri-C Metro Campus Main Auditorium.
Pianist Orrin Evans and his trio open the series on Monday. After studying at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in the mid ’90s with jazz greats like Joanne Brackeen and Kenny Barron, Evans moved to New York. Since then, he’s worked with Mos Def, Common, Branford Marsalis, the Mingus Big Band, and Sean Jones, among many others. The Jazz Academy of Great Washington D.C. will provide the opening set.
Tuesday night’s program will give Clevelanders another opportunity to check in on the career of trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, which began with the Tri-C JazzFest and Tri-C’s programs for young players.
Like Evans, Farinacci moved to New York as his portfolio of collaborations, tours, and recording dates has grown exponentially since he graduated from Julliard as part of its first jazz class. But he makes frequent visits home to show local jazz fans how he’s growing and to work with his Musical Outreach program at Tri-C to help talented young musicians develop and perhaps follow in his footsteps.
Farinacci will play with singer Cecile McLorin Salvant, pianist Aaron Diehl, bass Paul Sikivie, and drummers Lawrence Leathers. The Tri-C JazzFest High School All-Stars — a group Farinacci was once part of, comprising the top players in Tri-C’s high school music program — open the evening.
The series concludes Wednesday evening with Israeli clarinetist/saxophone player Anat Cohen, whose work includes wide-ranging influences including Brazilian, Cuban, and African sounds. Originally from a musical family in Tel Aviv before coming to the U.S. to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, she’ll be sharing the stage with Tel Aviv’s Rimon School Jazz Ensemble. The Tri-C Jazz Studies Workshop I, under the direction of Ernie Krivda, will open
Tickets for each show are $15.
Photos: Dominick Farinacci (top) and Anat Cohen (bottom).